Man Hooks 13-Foot Hammerhead Off Pier, Drags to Shore

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (CNN/WSVN) – Beachgoers near Fort Lauderdale got a thrill of a lifetime this week when a fisherman snagged a giant hammerhead shark and pulled it right onto the beach.

The big fish hung out long enough to pose for cameras. It was 13 feet long.

Ryan Polash, 21, hooked the monster shark from the pier at Commercial Boulevard and A1A in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea on Monday afternoon. He guided the shark to shore.

He and a few friends grabbed the line and brought it to the sand for a few photos. The main reason for bringing it to shore, though, was to cut the heavy line as close to the shark’s mouth as possible.

“In order to release the fish on the pier, you would end up having to cut the line, and there would be about 15 foot of line tangling, hanging down from the fish, which would get caught on a reef, could end up killing the fish in the long run,” said Polash.

Beachgoers from out of town were stunned!

“It was flailing around, everything like that, he cut the line, it was really cool,” said Stephanie Milton.

“It is a very big experience for us, for sure we are going to tell to everyone in Montreal we saw this,” said another woman.

Polash, along with a few others, quickly dragged the hammerhead back into the water and watched it swim away.

“It is an achievement,” he said. “It is cool to catch something big to have a picture and to show everyone, it is the ultimate catch!”

Polash was left with some scratches on his leg he calls ‘shark burn’ from rubbing up against the hammerhead’s rough skin. But he also has plenty of pictures to prove this is no fish tale.

“It is an amazing fish, when they are that big they are old, they are amazing creatures,” Polash said. “I don’t know why anyone would want to hurt them.”